Today, we made a big, bold commitment to expand our wedding business. GigMasters has partnered with TheKnot.com to bring over 270 of our top wedding musicians to The Knot’s 1,900,000 registered brides and grooms. This is the perfect example of our strategy to work with the top names in various industries to make sure our members get seen and heard around the web. 

This is a pilot program and a small percentage of our members were selected to participate based on criteria that we determined with The Knot, including 5 star rating, category, location and feedback. It’s truly a win-win since The Knot benefits from having more, top-quality performers in more locations and of course, GigMasters’ members benefit from having their profiles appear on the top wedding website.

What could be better? Well, there is something better! Knot brides will be able to fill out a GigMasters request form without ever leaving The Knot, automatically generating leads for our members!

The members who were selected for this pilot program seem pretty excited, here are just a couple of responses we received:

“GigMasters [is] consistently expanding opportunities for your clients. Clearly proving time after time why you are the number one service available for performers and artists – you guys rock!” Not Even Brothers

“We are excited about participating in this cooperation between two super websites and thank you for this opportunity to expand our presence in the ever growing wedding market.” Dana Starkell

We’ll be closely  monitoring the program and will keep you posted as it develops. If you have any questions, check out our FAQ or leave us a comment below.

For more info, check out our press release.

Ever get the urge to take your act on the road? It’s a romantic idea but the reality is that putting a tour together is hard work and the chances of netting any money off the deal are  about as low as Charlie Sheen’s morals.

Before you give up the touring dream completely, we want to introduce you to GigFunder, a new website that’s helping bands put tours together through crowd funding. GigFunder is all about empowering bands and their fans, sort of like a KickStarter for touring.

We spoke with GigFunder’s Founder Matt Pearson to get the inside scoop on this exciting service:

Can you introduce GigFunder to our audience?

Basically, GigFunder is a site that enables fans to bring artists on tour to the location of their choice. Fans can crowdfund the cost of a gig by contributing a little bit per person.

Artists can have a decent following but find it hard to book gigs in cities across the country. GigFunder allows artists to presell tickets and other merchandise so they don’t have to save up for travel money and booking shows is easier because there’s a proven audience. Fans get their show. Bands get to book a tour. Everyone wins!

How do you calculate how much it will cost a band to play a gig? For example, how do you decide how much it’ll take to get a band from New York to Chicago for a show? I imagine if you asked 50 bands what it would cost them to make a trip like that you’d get 50 different answers…

This is a great question and a very important thing for bands to understand when they’re setting up a tour. Currently, fans have two choices for setting up a tour on GigFunder:

1. Fan-Driven Tours: This is the real value add we provide that allows fans to start campaigns to bring bands to different cities. Bands are taken through the tour setup process and have the option of flying or what kind of car or van they want to rent if they need one. We tap into Hotwire to get accurate rental rates for everyone and the gas money is based on the mileage between the two cities. Then, they have a choice of what class of hotel they want (if they want one), the cost per person for food, and any other miscellaneous expenses. They can also add in a guarantee or minimum profit per show. When fans create campaigns, the costs are calculated based on the distance and driving days between the band’s city and the city of the campaigns.

An important consideration for artists here is whether to drive or fly. If an artist is a one-man singer-songwriter, then flying will be cheaper for many cities (especially the farther away they get), because they only need one hotel night and gas adds up a lot over the miles if they are driving. If they have more members, then driving may make more sense, even for long distances.

2. Fixed Tours: This allows the artist to raise money for specific cities. The amount that needs to be raised is set by the artist and is split between all pledgers in all cities.

Your ‘How It Works’ page does a great job explaining how GigFunder can help fans come together to get their favorite band to their city. At what point do venues get involved?

Bands are responsible for booking their own gigs. If a campaign for a certain city is funded, the band is responsible for making sure that it happens. This is a much better position for bands than usual though. Generally, if a band has never toured in a certain city, it can be difficult to prove that you have an audience or guarantee heads for the venue. With GigFunder, you have pre-sold a number of tickets and have already collected the money for the tickets. You can prove the minimum number of people that will be coming to the gig and even negotiate a split with money you have with pre-sold tickets. Bands are in a much stronger negotiating position for booking gigs.

There seems to be a real movement towards crowd funding in a lot of different industries. What do you attribute this to?

On a very macro level, this movement was inevitable. As people find new ways to connect with more artists, many of which aren’t supported by labels, fans had to step up to support the artists they love. Patronage is a very old concept that has been supported for centuries, but this is the best time for artists to build a niche audience and make a decent living outside of the mainstream. With distribution as cheap as it is, if you have a good product that connects with people, you will find yourself in a position to engage these fans on a much deeper level than existed in the world of Top 40 radio.

Also, I have to credit Kickstarter for bringing crowdfunding to the mainstream. People are becoming more aware of this model and feel comfortable with (it). The success of Kickstarter definitely provides legitimacy, on a small level, to all crowdfunding sites because it’s a model that people are becoming more and more familiar with.

If any of our bands/musicians are interested in getting involved with GigFunder, how do they get started?

All an artist needs to do is register for GigFunder and create a tour. It’s ridiculously easy. A few tips for creating a successful tour:

• Consider the goal of your tour. Are you willing to play one-off shows anywhere in the country? Are you trying to tour certain cities in the Northeast? This should play into the way you communicate the tour goals with your fans and the way you build you pledge awards.
• Create a video that features your music and a call to action for fans to support your tour. The best response on the site has been for artists with cool, creative videos that highlight their music and ask fans for their support.
• Creative pledge awards – Tickets to shows, merchandise, etc. are all great and necessary for lower levels of pledging, but it’s important to provide awesome opportunities to the hardcore fans. Encouraging larger pledges from your biggest fans will make booking shows much more likely.
• Promotion! You have to tell your fans about it and interact with the fans that have pledged via Facebook, Twitter, and your mailing lists. GigFunder is not a music discovery site. GigFunder makes it easy for bands to engage their fans for booking a tour. It is for artists that have fan bases that want them to tour and it’s the artist’s responsibility to get the word out.

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Check out GigFunder today and let us know what you think!

Pauly Gigs: What style of music are you spinning these days?
Ken Stone: It really depends a lot on the event. Some high school parties like more of a urban/hip-hop focus, while parties out in Pennsylvania I may end up doing 45 minutes of country slow dancing and have a packed dance floor for all of it. I usually do something like this at weddings after the cake cutting. I’m moving to Houston this summer so I may have to shift gears a bit.

PG: What are you NOT spinning?
KS: They majority of my customers specifically say, “No line / participation dances.”

PG: What’s the crowd like at your wedding gigs?
KS: I get mostly people who love to dance and don’t need much encouragement to get out there on the dance floor and have a good time. They like the oldies but after dinner when the party kicks into high gear they like the newer faster songs with a good beat.

PG: What’s your current top 10 playlist?
KS: Overall, I’d say these songs would make a good top 10 for the majority of the events I DJ…

Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling
LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem
Lady Gaga – Just Dance
Beyonce – Single Ladies
Pink – Raise Your Glass
Taio Cruz – Dynamite
Usher – OMG
Pitbull – Give Me Everything
Jennifer Lopez – On The Floor
Black Eyed Peas – Boom Boom Pow

Thanks Ken! If you have a Spotify account, you can listen to the entire mix below…

Stay in the loop with GigMasters (and all the hot jams) and follow Pauly Gigs on Facebook. If you’re a DJ and would like to share your playlists with us, drop us a line on Facebook or in the comments below.

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In the U.S. alone there are a few hundred summer music festivals showcasing everything from bluegrass to jazz to pop, jambands, electronica, country and pretty much everything in between.

Maybe you are too busy gigging to make it to any festivals this summer or maybe you are playing a few yourself. If you have the time (and money and sunscreen) we highly recommend getting out there and getting some inspiration from these great festivals.

Here’s our brief overview of the Summer Music Festival Calendar, showcasing a few of the biggest summer fests and a few of the top acts at each:

May

Sasquatch! Music Festival – May 25-28 George, WA

Beck, Jack White, Tenacious D, Bon Iver and a lot of fans who will look like they’d be right at home on the set of Portlandia. Plus a gorgeous setting.

June

Bonnarroo – June 7-10 Manchester, TN

Phish, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, The Beach Boys, Bon Iver, The Roots and a whole lot more at another one of the summer’s biggest, and hottest, festivals.

Telluride Bluegrass Festival – June 21-24 Telluride, CO

Alison Kraus & Union Station, John Fogerty, Del McCoury Band, Sam Bush Band and Bruce Horsnby, not to mention the beautiful surrounding of Telluride, CO.

July

Pitchfork Music Festival – July 13-15 Chicago, IL

Vampire Weekend, Real Estate, Beach House, Hot Chip and Atlas Sound, Overheated Hipsters (that last one isn’t actually a band name, yet).

Gathering of the Vibes – July 19-22 Seaside Park  Bridgeport, CT

Primus, Phil Lesh & Friends, Bob Weird & Bruce Hornsby, The Avett Brothers, lots of tie-dye and bare feet.

Newport Folk Festival – July 27-29 Newport, RI

Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Gary Clark Jr., Jackson Browne and much more at one of the country’s oldest and most historic festivals.

August

Newport Jazz Festival – August 3-5 Newport, RI

Dr. John, Preservation Hall Jazz band, The Bad Plus, Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny Unity Band…the jazzbos take over Newport a weekend after the folkies (people still say stuff like that, right?).

Lollapalooza – August 3-5 Chicago, IL Grant Park

Black Sabbath (!), Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Keys, Jack White, The Shins, Black Sabbath (!!), Sigur Ros, Dawes and did we mention Black Sabbath?!!

Outside Lands – August 10-12 San Francisco Golden Gate Park

The return of Neil Young & Crazy Horse plus the great Stevie Wonder, Metallica, Jack White, Foo Fighters and Beck in San Francisco’s serene, occasionally scary Golden Gate Park.

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Going to any festivals this summer? Gigging at any festivals this summer?! We wan’t to know about it! Don’t be shy! Leave us a comment!

Less than a month after Stallone got onboard, Timex Social Club signed up as well! If you don’t recall the name, you should at least remember their classic club track “Rumors” — you know the one that goes “Look at all these rumors / can’t take it no more.” It’s an essential ’80s song if you like to get down with lost-but-not-forgotten R&B jams. And yes, since they’re on GigMasters now, you can book them for your own private party if you’d like.

Frank Stallone
Member since: April 7, 2012
Categories: Rock Band, Acoustic Band, Big Band, Concert Band
Press Kit: http://www.gigmasters.com/rock-band/Frank-Stallone/
Location: Los Angeles, California

Timex Social Club
Member since: May 2, 2012
Categories: Original Band, 80s Band, Dance Band, R&B Band, Wedding Band and more
Press Kit: http://www.gigmasters.com/rb-band/Timex-Social-Club/
Location: Sacramento, California

Nationwide Coverage
Member since: April 22, 2004
Categories: 80s Band, 70s Band, Beach Band, Cover Band, Wedding Band, and more
Press Kit: http://www.gigmasters.com/Rock/Nationwide-Coverage/
Location: Huntsville, Alabama

ReightyO – Ladies Do The 80s
Member since: April 6, 2011
Categories: 80s Band, Cover Band, Dance Band, Rock Band, Top 40 Band and more
Press Kit: http://www.gigmasters.com/80s-band/Reightyo—Ladies-Do-The-80s/
Location: San Diego, California

Thunderpants
Member since: March 17, 2008
Categories: 80s Band, Cover Band, Rock Band
Press Kit: http://www.gigmasters.com/liveband/Thunderpants/
Location: Houston, Texas

Those just a few.  We have your ’80s covered with The Reflexx, The Breakfast Club, Bueller, Past Action Heroes, Spandex Superheroes, Rubix Cubed and many more! If you’re feeling nostalgic, just go to GigMasters.com, and enter your city and “80s band” to see who’s available for your next party. And remember to wear your Oakley Frogskins sunglasses.

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But first, a little background…

So, What is Tumblr Anyway?

Here’s the deal: Tumblr is “microblogging and social networking platform.” In English this means that Tumblr makes it easy to create and update your very own blog. Beyond the typical blog format (you write a blog post and maybe someone leaves a comment or two) Tumbr also lets you share other users’ content, not unlike the Twitter ‘RT.’  That’s the social networking side of the site.

Tumblr blogs are highly customizeable, to the point that a Tumbr can look and act as a full-fledged website. It’s easy to post photos, videos, audio (via Spotify or SoundCloud) and of course you can write whatever you like. It is a blog after all.

So, What Should I Tumbl About?

Worried you don’t have enough to share with the world? In many ways, Tumblr is the anti-blog. Many (most?) Tumblr posts are simply a photo – maybe with a brief caption, maybe not.

Take a quick video with your iPhone at your next show and slap it on Tumblr. Write about what’s happening in the studio or the tour van. It’s just another way to let fans and friends into your world.

Still need some inspiration? Check out these 10 musicians with great Tumblr accounts:

5 You Might Know

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros http://edwardsharpeandthemagneticzeros.tumblr.com/ Simple but cool layout and background with updates from the road.

Snoop Dogg http://snoopdogg.tumblr.com/ Obviously Snoop is going to provide an entertaining follow.

Beyonce http://iam.beyonce.com/ One of the coolest designs you are going to see on Tumblr.

Reggie Watts http://situationist.tumblr.com  Wildly talented comedian/musician/all-around awesome wierdo uses Tumblr to share, well, everything.

Beastie Boys http://blog.beastieboys.com/ The Beasties have always put their creative personalities into everything they do, so why would their Tumblr be any different?

Note: Since starting this post the world lost Beastie Boy MCA aka Adam Yauch much too early. Our thoughts are with the group and Adam’s family.

5 You Might Not 

Jenny Owen Youngs http://jennyowenyoungs.tumblr.com/ Up and comer Jenny lets her followers right into her world.

Michael Shoup http://michaelshoup.com/ A very cool Tumblr/website integration.

Allison Weiss http://allisonweiss.net/  Another example of using Tumbr for a deep website integration.

Jonathan Diener (The Swellers) http://jonathandiener.tumblr.com/ An interesting guy who clearly takes his Tumblr duties very seriously. It seems like he is constantly updating this thing.

The Maine http://themaineband.tumblr.com/ An inside look at the life of a band, plus lots of video, which we love.

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Feeling inspired? Feeling courageous? Feel like sharing? If you join Tumblr, or are already on Tumblr, we want to know about it. Leave a comment with your Tumblr URL and we’ll stop by to say hi!

Because we’re well known as having the largest and best group of performers as members we get some pretty interesting calls. Last week a casting agent for a reality TV show called looking for a specific type of female performer for a paid TV gig!

You must be:

• Female
• A compelling talent
• A genuine person with a good story
• Engaged to be married (or engaged to be engaged)
• Interested in being on TV
• In need of a wedding dress

If this sounds like you, email us at marketing@gigmasters.com. Put “TV Show Casting” in the subject line, and we’ll get you in touch with the  casting agent.

They’d prefer to find someone in the LA area, but are willing to consider those in other locations as well. Keep in mind, we aren’t doing the casting for this show, but we’re always happy to try and connect our members with interesting gigs!

It gets pretty humid up here at the GigMasters office (in Connecticut), but this is a bigger issue for our southern friends. So, we turned to Creig Camacho from The Caribbean Crew for advice. They’re a successful Steel Drum Band from Florida with 367 bookings (as of May 2012) so they know how to walk the talk (or is it talk the walk?). Anyway, they know what they’re talking about.

Summer Gig Tips from The Caribbean Crew

- Request that you perform in a shaded area, such as in a gazebo, under a overhang, pop-up tent, or ask the client to provide large umbrellas at least.

- If none of these are available, ask to setup against a building that will provide shade instead of in an open courtyard.

- Remember to cover your instruments and speakers – they will overheat if they’re left out in the sun too long (especially shiny steel drums!).

- Ask the client to provide you with plenty of cold water for your entire group.

- Have a back-up plan in case it rains! Warm weather rain maybe be refreshing for the guests, but it’s not for musicians. If there’s a chance of rain, is always best to setup inside as a precaution.

- If the client insists on you playing outside, you may want to negotiate an additional fee in case you have to break down and setup again. Extra setup time usually counts as performance time.

If you have and summer tips, please continue the conversation on the comments below.
Until next time, stay cool like The Caribbean Crew!

If you have any questions, contact GigMasters any time. We also recommend these video tutorials to help you get more gigs!

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For over 13 years thousands of independent musicians and songwriters have turned to the Indie Bible to help them get their music heard by the right people. One of the industry’s top guides, it’s filled with lists of music publications, radio stations, music distributors, labels and more.

Indie Bible founder and editor David Wimble was kind enough to speak to us about the state of the music industry and the independent musician’s best chances for survival. Plus he’s giving away a free copy of his book!

Read the interview and follow the instructions at the bottom of the post for your chance to win the latest edition of The Indie Bible.

Who is the Indie Bible written for?

The demographic for the Indie Bible is a recording artist that has just picked up their box of CDs from the CD Duplicator. After a few days, they’ve sold copies to their friends and relatives, but the initial excitement is starting to die down a bit. There is then that moment when an artist realizes that their CD is not in fact going to set the world on fire, and it’s also not going to magically sprout legs and sell itself. There is a LOT of work ahead in order to generate any sales at all. That’s where the Indie Bible comes in. It connects these artists to the people and services that can help them to gain more exposure for their music in order to generate sales.

Can you tell us a little about your background and experience in the industry?

I actually had no intention of ever publishing a music directory. My goal was to become a legitimate recording artist. I took the first step towards that in 1999 when my band, Big Meteor, recorded our one and only CD, “Wild River.”

During my work day, I would surf around trying to find places to send my CD to in order to gain some exposure.

I found that there were many review websites as well as hundreds of college and community stations that were willing to play independent music. Online CD shops were also starting to pop up – places such as CD Baby and The Orchard.

The whole time I searched for resources online, I kept my eye out for some sort of directory that could map out the useful music resources on the internet – some sort of guide that listed all the helpful music websites for independent artists. I never found one. If I had found one, there would have never been an Indie Bible.

I was laid off from my high tech job, and decided to create the directory, instead of starting up another band.

In 1999 I published the first edition of the Indie Bible. It was a photocopied spiral bound book, but it received really glowing reviews. People recognized that it was something that was needed and that it would save independent artists hours of research time.

How about radio? Should independent artists still be trying to get their stuff played on the radio?

There’s an endless argument about whether or not college/internet radio airplay generates CD sales. The same question can be applied to getting your music reviewed.

My belief is that any place that you can get more ears to hear your music, the better. You never know what it can lead to.

The more opportunities that you create so that people can hear your music, the better chance you have of creating a circumstance that will help to move your career forward, and help you to the next stage.

A good example is an artist I talked to at SXSW several years ago. He told me about a local coffeehouse that was playing his CD. A music director was having a coffee in the shop and asked the owner about the music that was playing over the sound system. The owner gave him the details and the director got in touch with the artist. The artist’s music became a big part of the soundtrack for the director’s current production.

So get your music out there as much as you can…anywhere you can…because you NEVER know WHO is going to hear it.

The so called ‘downfall’ of the music industry is getting a lot of press these days. Are the changes the industry is undergoing making things easier or more difficult for independent musicians? 

I think it’s making it a lot easier, that’s why there’s so much of it out there. I think Reverb Nation alone has 200,000 or so bands on it.

Independent music is steadily becoming “legitimate” music. Consumers are starting to understand that “independent” does not signify a second rate level of music that is put out by people that are not good enough to land record deals. There’s a lot of amazing music being produced independently.

As far as the consumer goes, the relationship with independent artists has never been better. As you mentioned, the major labels are crumbling and thanks to internet radio, podcasts and the large number of social networks and music download websites, independent music has never had so much exposure.

Independent music has also found its way into films, commercials, video games etc. It elevates the status of a production these days if the director features great music in their film (or commercial) that no one in the mainstream has ever heard before.

The door has really opened for independent artists. I think the most intimidating thing that independent artists face is the incredible amount of music being produced. It takes a real effort to get one’s tunes noticed in the vast ocean of music that’s out there. But with a lot of hard work and dedication, it is possible.

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Have you recorded a demo or album that you are trying to get out there? Leave a comment below telling us about it and telling us what you are doing to get your music heard by the right people. The most creative and innovative answer wins a copy of the Indie Bible!

Houston knows how to party.

In a three-year report, we found that these U.S. cities had the most bookings through GigMasters. If you’re a performer looking to hit the road (or relocate entirely), consider these entertainment hot spots. 

Cities with the most bookings in 3 years:
1. Houston, TX (1111 bookings)
2. Los Angeles, CA (1025)
3. Chicago, IL (1020)
4. New York, NY (1011)
5. Las Vegas, NV (954)
6. San Diego, CA (864)
7. Dallas, TX (715)
8. Atlanta, GA (713)
9. Washington, DC (708)
10. Philadelphia, PA (627)

Go Texas! Way to get two of your cities in the top 10. In terms of booking percentages, however, we found that midsize cities/towns have better conversion rates (when you divide bookings by gig requests). There were thousands of cities on the initial report, so for this next list below, we narrowed it down to locations with a 100 bookings or more in three years.

Cities with the highest booking conversion rates:
1. Boulder, CO (128 bookings / 437 gig requests) 29.3%
2. Princeton, NJ (123 / 495) 24.8%
3. Greenwich, CT (102 / 419) 24.3%
4. Laguna Beach, CA (141 / 593) 23.8%
5. Newport, RI (216 / 914) 23.6%
6. St. Louis, MO (165 / 702) 23.5%
7. Las Vegas, NV (954 / 4127) 23.1%
8. Santa Monica, CA (154 / 691) 22.3%
9. Arlington, VA (164 / 773) 21.2%
10. Newport Beach, CA (204 / 978) 20.9%

Congrats to Las Vegas for making both lists! I’m guessing that this may have something to do with all of our talented and dependable Elvis Impersonators.

Of course, getting booked depends on many factors, such as your category, city population and demand for entertainment. So just because a city gets a lot of bookings, doesn’t necessarily mean you should pack your bags just yet. You may want to do some reseach first and browse GigMasters to see how well other performers do within your genre. But it is interesting to look at these numbers to get a general sense of where that action is.

If you’re a member that’s interested in listing in other cities, we do offer additional memberships at half the price. Just login to your control panel, and follow the link that says “50% off additional membership.” Or if you’re new to GigMasters, you can view our membership options here.

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